SOCAR to enter corporate bond market of Azerbaijan

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is preparing to issue bonds to the amount of 200 million dollars, which will be sent to the financing of shipyard plant construction, the SOCAR vice president on economic issues Suleyman Gasimov told Trend.

The State Committee for Securities is going to register the prospectus of bonds, which will be issued by maturity at 14 years",- Gasimov said.

In his words, the bonds are going to be purchased by the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ).
SOFAZ approved the information without disclosing the terms of the transaction, due to incompleteness of the operation.

An associated company has been established in the framework of the plant construction, in which SOCAR has a 65 percent stake, Azerbaijani Investment Company- 25 percent and KEPPEL company - 10 percent. The plant management is going to be implemented by KEPPEL company. The construction of 30 percent will be funded by equity, 70 percent will be provided by bank loans.

The first ship of the new plant will be launched in 2013. The square of the company amounts to 880 thousand square meters, the square of closed production area - 75 thousands of square meters. The berth length will amount to 1300 meters.

The volume of investments in the plant construction stands by 450 million dollars. The plant capacity amounts to 25 thousand tons of metal constructions per year. It will enable production of 4 tankers with deadweight of 15 thousand tons or 2 tankers with deadweight of 70 thousand tons. The plant will also be able to produce 4 marine maintenance vessels and provide repair and towing of 80-100 various vessels.